Django's Style as Legacy

Musical sons and heirs

Paris 

22/01/2010 - 

Django - like Miles, the prolific "manouche" guitarist was famous enough to go by his first name alone - did not just embody the spirit of Gypsy jazz, he was Gypsy jazz. Django invented a style, laid the foundations of a tradition and left a legacy of jazz standards that have been covered everywhere from Europe to the backwoods of the U.S.  Django died in 1953, but over half a century later his influence lives on, his music acting as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. While there was no "before Django" there appears to be a flourishing "after" scene. And as the jazz world prepares to celebrate the centenary of the Gypsy jazz legend's birth we take a look at Django's musical sons and heirs.

Countless music fans worship at the shrine of Django (born Jean-Baptiste) Reinhardt on 23 January 1910 and the King of Gypsy swing is now honoured with an annual festival in Samois-sur-Seine (where he is buried.) Django's legend has shown no sign of diminishing over the years. Far from it, in fact. Over half a century on interest in the Gypsy guitar virtuoso has risen. Woody Allen paid his own tribute to Django in Sweet and Lowdown, a film about a fictional jazz guitarist (played by Sean Penn) driven by an obsession with Reinhardt. Meanwhile, musical tributes abound, two of the most recent, and most successful, examples being the Romanian swing violinist Florin Niculescu's 2005 album Djangophonie and Django à la créole recorded by New Orleans clarinettist Evan Christopher.

Interestingly enough, despite having been born in Belgium, Django has become a symbol of France's national jazz identity. And it is here that the Django cult remains the strongest. In January 2010, the respected French jazz monthly Jazz Magazine published a special Django supplement including a biography of the Romani guitarist written by Yves Salgues and an article highlighting the rising stars of the new Gypsy swing generation "made in France." Fleet-fingered guitarist Bireli Lagrène is widely acclaimed as the most influential of Django's heirs (even though his latest album actually finds him taking a break from Gypsy swing.) "Django was the guitarist who inspired me to play," enthuses Lagrène, "I have deep and lasting respect for the man!"

Another Django disciple who has generated a great deal of press coverage of late is Dorado Schmitt, a gifted guitarist and violinist born and raised in a Gypsy family in Lorraine. Schmitt's latest album, Family, hot out on Dreyfus Jazz (a label Schmitt shares with Lagrène) includes a number of obvious Django classics such as Nuages but Family kicks off with a brilliant original composition entitled Miro Django. Dorado's cousin, Tchavolo Schmitt, is also prominently placed in the new Gypsy swing generation. Tchavolo (born in Paris a year after Django's death) proclaims Django to be "the Mozart of the Gypsy people" and he has followed in the Romani guitarist's wake, recording a number of albums devoted to "manouche" jazz. 

Any serious discussion about Django's musical lineage should also make passing reference to  Stochelo Rosenberg, Samson Schmitt, Christian Escoudé (whose Trio Gitan revisited Django's repertoire with great gusto), jazz improviser Angelo Debarre and Ninine Garcia who has managed to preserve Django's legacy while establishing himself as a respected composer in his own right. And then, of course, there's Boulou Ferré (playing with or without his brother Elios.) Boulou and Elios are the sons of Matelo Ferré (who played with Django in the Hot Club de France) and were raised on a diet of Gypsy jazz from an early age. "I went round singing the chorus to hundreds of Django songs," Boulou remembers, "I knew them all off by heart, but I wasn't allowed to touch the guitar. That was a clever technique of my father's - it was a question of respect, but also a way of making me want to play so bad I thought I'd burst!"* 

Patrick Leguidecoq - better known by his stage name Romane - is a "gadjo"* whose guitar-playing skills have not only earned him respect in the Gypsy community but also established him as one of the most prominent Django disciples on the current scene. Jacques Dutronc's son, Thomas, has also popularised the Django sound amongst the younger generation thanks to albums such as Comme un manouche sans guitare. "The day I discovered Django Reinhardt his music just blew me away," Dutronc junior says, "I started learning all his solos, picking them up by ear, and I read absolutely every book I could find about his life." Other youngsters now following in the great Django's steps include child prodigy Swann Lamberger, a guitarist who cannot read music but was taught by his father (following the tradition of Gypsy music where pieces are generally not notated but passed on orally from one generation to the next.)

Other young self-taught "manouche" jazz talents to watch out for in the future include guitar virtuoso Steeve Laffont, Samy Dausset (who deserves to be much more widely known) and Rocky Gresset. Gresset, born into a Gypsy family in 1980, has just released a debut album that won rave reviews from the critics. And, last but very much not least, in the rise of the new Gypsy jazz generation comes Django's grandson, David (the son of Babik Reinhardt) who has made his mark on the scene with his own trio - a trio which, incidentally, has already witnessed the emergence of David's cousin, Noé, who caused a veritable stir when he let his fingers fly across the famous Selmer 607.**

 More Django music

Recommended listening:

Bireli Lagrène Gipsy Trio (Dreyfus Jazz/Sony Music) 2009
Dorado Schmidt Family (Dreyfus Jazz/Sony Music) 2009
Romane Djangovision (IMP/Harmonia Mundi) 2003
Evan Christopher Django à la créole (Frémeaux & Associés/Socadisc)
Stochelo Rosenberg Live In Samois (Universal) 2003
Florin Niculescu Djangophonie (Le Chant du Monde/Harmonia Mundi) 2004
Compilations Djangologie & Manoir de ses rêves (Le Chant du Monde/Harmonia Mundi)
Compilation Generation Django (Dreyfus Jazz/SonyBMG) 2009
Compilation Django Cent (JMS/Sphinx) 2009

Concert: Django 100 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris) on 14 March 2010. Featuring guest appearances by Boulou Ferré, Elios Ferré, Romane, Angelo Debarre and Stochelo Rosenberg who will be joined by 100 amateur guitarists for a grand finale of Minor Swing. 

Jacques  Denis

Translation : Hugo  Wilcken